Attend the BuildingEnergy Boston Conference + Trade Show, an event designed by and for practitioners in the fields of high-performance building and design, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. Hosted by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), this year’s event is Thursday & Friday, August 13 & 14. The theme of BuildingEnergy Boston 2020 is Transforming Existing Buildings, with additional emphasis on decarbonization and on bringing more diverse communities into the discussion. Register at: nesea.org/be20
This conference is hosted by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), which helps high-performance building and renewable energy professionals improve their practices by learning from and networking with each other. Founded in 1975, it is a member-driven 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the adoption of sustainable energy practices in the built environment. Learn more at nesea.org.
NOTE: This event is a two-part series.* The course is arranged in this way to allow you to practice the energy modeling in between courses:
Class 1: Feb 26th from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM
Class 2: March 11th from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM
Building Energy Modeling is a versatile, multipurpose tool that is used in new building and retrofit design, green certification, qualification for tax credits and utility incentives.
Learning Objectives:
After completing the course, attendees will be able to:
describe how modeling is used as part of an integrative design process
construct simple commercial building energy models using eQuest
interpret the results of energy models
distinguish between design models and validation models.
*This course was originally listed as two separate courses occurring on Feb 26th and March 11th.
Did you know indoor air sensors can be used to not only provide higher indoor environmental quality, but also improve energy efficiency and reduce utility costs as well?
In the face of growing energy costs, the University of Cambridge’s Hutchison/MRC Research Centre was met with the unsettling prospect of reducing life-saving cancer research to pay utility bills. After implementing a unique airside solution that allows ventilation to vary based on laboratory conditions, Hutchison/MRC reduced total natural gas costs by approximately 41 percent in the first year, and by 54 percent in year two. The total electricity bill was reduced by 9 percent. The new system, which had a payback of less than 2 years, also helped reduce carbon emissions.
The new solution would modify the center's traditional variable air volume (VAV) control in lab spaces with the demand-based Aircuity system, which allows the ventilation to vary based on conditions in each laboratory. With numerous installations at U.S. university laboratories, the Aircuity system proposed for the Hutchison/MRC Research Centre would be the first in the United Kingdom.
Aircuity, a USGBC MA Chapter Sponsor, is the smart airside efficiency company providing building owners with sustained energy savings through its intelligent measurement solutions. By addressing the inherent deficiencies in conventional approaches to energy efficient building ventilation, Aircuity's smart solutions deliver significant energy savings for a wide range of commercial, institutional and lab building applications without sacrificing occupant comfort, productivity or safety.
Aircuity's mission is to be an industry leader in the optimization of building ventilation for sustainable energy efficiency, safety, and operational performance.
What do you get when you combine a mill complex, the need for affordable housing, and Keith Construction? Development of a 45-unit affordable housing complex for working individuals and families in the Pittsfield's Morningside neighborhood. Rice Silk Mill involved a historic conversion of the mill complex known as the A.H. Rice Company. Originally built in 1874, the complex played a major role in Pittsfield’s rise as a textile manufacturing center during the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century.
The historically sensitive renovation resulted in various unit types, including one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, featuring modern amenities (exercise facility, community room, and wireless internet access) in a loft-type setting. Completed on a 13 month project schedule, the project challenges included re-use of existing physical resources, preservation of historic buildings, use of existing infrastructure and energy-efficient design, in a dense urban setting.
The effort has been well worth it, as the new community has contributed to the ongoing revitalization of Morningside neighborhood.
By Bob Laurence, Manager of Energy Efficiency, Eversource
Northeastern University’s new Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex (ISEC) features 234,000 square feet of space that houses a vibrant interdisciplinary research community. The six-story complex is mixed with labs and classrooms organized around one central atrium.
It’s also a really cool building. And, you don’t need a microscope to see the state-of-the-art design and energy-efficient technologies.
The university worked collaboratively with Eversource and the design team to identify energy-saving measures and technical expertise to jump start the project. Then, they explored financial resources available through the Mass Save program. Armed with energy-efficient recommendations, architecture firm Payette, engineering firm Arup, and general contractor Suffolk Construction then worked together to bring this stunning building to life.
In fact, ISEC is designed to use 75 percent less energy than a typical intensive research building. Let’s uncover the science of this innovative lab design and its technologies.
• Climate responsive building envelope – The complex is equipped with triple-glazed windows, which reduce glass condensation and prevent heat loss. ISEC also features sun-shading aluminum “fins” to maximize daylight penetration while minimizing heat gain. This basically means a huge comfort boost for students and faculty inside the building—while the university saves on energy costs.
• Variable Air Volume (VAV) fume hoods – While a fume hood may be the most important safety feature in a lab, it’s also a big energy user. Labs use tremendous volumes of exhaust to flush out potentially hazardous fumes. Northeastern added high-performance VAV hoods, which exhaust the amount of air required to maintain a safe velocity setpoint. They also reduce the hood’s supply fan speed and maintain the desired temperature and humidity. Simply put, VAVs maximize safety while minimizing energy consumption.
• Enhanced airside systems – Many labs have a dedicated HVAC system, which can often be expensive to operate. ISEC boasts a cascade system that recovers conditioned air from its offices and atrium, then transfers the air to the labs to save energy and costs. In fact, an approximate 50 percent reduction in energy use over baseline building standards is expected, thanks to this highefficiency cascade approach to recirculating warm and cooled air.
• Occupancy-based airflow controls – Many older labs with low fume-hood counts operate at 10 air changes per hour (ACH) or above, 24 hours a day. Northeastern’s new VAV fume hoods and added airflow controls will reduce its lab ventilation rates from 6 ACH to 4 ACH whenever labs and equipment room spaces are detected to be unoccupied.
As an added bonus, ISEC is also on track for LEED Gold Certification. Visit www.northeastern.edu/isec to learn more about the building.
This conference is hosted by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), which helps high-performance building and renewable energy professionals improve their practices by learning from and networking with each other. Founded in 1975, it is a member-driven 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the adoption of sustainable energy practices in the built environment. Learn more at nesea.org.
